Quincy Center road project to start Tuesday

A major roadway project in Quincy Center is set to begin Tuesday, despite earlier promises from city officials that the public would get at least two-weeks notice before it started.

A major roadway project in Quincy Center is set to begin Tuesday, despite earlier promises from city officials that the public would get at least two-weeks notice before it started.

City planners held an informational meeting Thursday at city hall, answering questions from downtown business owners and residents about the impact of a two-year, $7.9 million roadway project to be carried out by A.R. Belli of Newton.

Starting Tuesday, construction crews will begin the first phase of the project: tearing up the traffic islands on each side of the Hancock Street rotary around the Church of Presidents.

In recent weeks, Kristina Johnson, the city’s director of transportation planning, and Mayor Thomas Koch’s office said an informational meeting for the public would be scheduled at least two weeks before the project started.

“I know this kind of came together at the last minute and I do apologize,” Johnson said at Thursday’s meeting, attended by about 35 people. “I take pride in public outreach and try to give the most amount of notice to the public as possible.

“Because we’re working with the Mass Department of Transportation, they have certain contractual obligations with the (A.R. Belli). We needed to hold this meeting, but they needed to allow (A.R. Belli) to move forward, so we were trying to balance both issues.”

The state is funding $7 million of the project cost with federally earmarked money, and the city is covering the rest. The project, intended to set the stage for a planned public park called Adams Green, will install new sidewalks, streetlights, bike lanes, crosswalks and utilities to the area around the proposed park, expected to run between city hall and the church.

The most drastic phase of the project – halting north-south traffic flow along Hancock Street in front of city hall – won’t take place until next spring, officials said. However, other disruptions, including temporary lane and sidewalk closures and removing parking spaces will start as soon as this spring.

“There will be some inconvenience,” Dennis Harrington, the city’s planning director, said.

Lisa Lammé, owner of Gypsy Kitchen at 1241 Hancock St, said she’s worried about the plan to remove parking spaces near her restaurant.

“It’s kind of scary it’s going so fast,” Lammé said. “We’re in tough economic times, and to lose those parking spots is detrimental to retail.”

The first phase of the project, to run through the summer, will remove 20 parking spots on the west side of Hancock Street in front of city hall. However, Robbie Burgess of Howard/Stein-Hudson Associates, the project’s engineer, said there will be 20 temporary spaces created on the east side of Hancock Street – in front of the church – and on Temple Street.

By project’s end, tentatively by the end of 2015, those temporary spots will be gone and the downtown will have 20 less parking spots.

Later stages of the project, starting as early as this summer, include converting Washington and Temple streets to two-way roads, building new sidewalks, planting new trees, reversing traffic flow on Maple Street and installing a new traffic light at the bus entrance to the Quincy Center T station.

Last week, city officials were caught off guard when A.R. Belli put up digital signs at three different locations in the city, alerting the public that the roadway project would start April 14. The signs were turned off after the city told the state’s Department of Transportation it hadn’t yet held its informational meeting for the public.

A.R. Belli agreed to hold off construction for a week.

“I made a promise, on the record, I’m fully aware of that, believe me,” Johnson said Thursday. “I wish that we could have given more notice, but it is what it is and it came together.”

Johnson said she and fellow planners have canvassed the downtown, passing out informational fliers to all properties affected by the project.

People can sign up for project alerts by visiting www.quincyma.gov/citylink.

In other business Thursday, state Sen. John Keenan announced that Gov. Deval Patrick was on the verge of signing a transportation bond bill that would designate $10 million to Quincy.

There’s been talk that all, or some, of that money could go toward Mayor Koch’s plan to redevelop the Quincy Center T station to include a courthouse, office space, ground-level retail space and a new parking garage. Bond bill funding is distributed to projects according to need, so it’s unknown when Quincy would get its $10 million.

Planning for a new-look Quincy Center T station picked up in 2012 following the abrupt closure of the station’s 872-space parking garage. The garage closed after inspectors found water damage and deteriorating concrete.